Fighting for Love (2024) - Final Review
Final review/rating: Fighting for Love (2024) - Hodgepodge of cringe comedy, decent action, and poorly written palace intrigue that falls well short of epic
This is 7/10 stars ✮✮✮✮✮✮✮ from Pandafan🐼
Overall rating: 7 Stars Plot: 6.5 Stars Acting/cast: 7 Stars Couple chemistry: 4 stars Music: 7 Stars Re-watch value: 4 Stars Enjoyment factor: 7 Stars |
The drama had such promise - a fantastic cast with Zhang Tian Ai, whom I remember fondly as the lethal foxy swordstress from Sword Snow Stride (2021), and Zhang Hao Wei, who has had a number of intriguing secondary character roles under his belt and who recently did a stellar job as the comical lead in The Trust (2023). Not to mention Wang Rui Chang whom I have not seen in a substantial role since In a Class of Her Own (2020) and whom you can always rely on for very watchable snark, as well as some veteran actors, such as Wang Yong Quan (whom viewers may remember as the iconic Xia Jiang from Nirvana in Fire (2015)).
The source material for the drama is also great. The drama is based on the popular novel A'Mai Cong Jun 阿麥從軍 ("A'Mai joins the Army") which as at the time of writing this review has a rating of 8.5 on Douban, which is a high score on a platform not given to generous ratings.
And yet, despite a promising beginning, this drama failed to deliver compelling viewing. I'm not of the view that a drama has to follow its source novel religiously, but watching this had me wondering how it was possible to butcher a great story this badly. It's as if the scriptwriter decided to demonstrate that with enough incompetence it is indeed possible to make a sow's ear out of a silk purse.
It's not all bad - there are some decent fight scenes, some great acting from the older veteran actors, and Zhang Tian Ai holds her own with a committed performance as the lead. I also thought that the ending was a fitting one. But unless you are a huge fan of the leads, this is definitely not a must watch and an overall rating of 7 is probably on the generous side...
SPOILERS AHEADS
